It's been five long years since Green Day re-wrote mass opinion with their 2004 epic American Idiot, an album that saw Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool finger George Dubya as the main target of their burly political frustrations. A rock opus in its own glorious right, ...Idiot channelled all its anger and discontent into an hour plus tirade about the Bush administration, the US media and every little significant detail which Armstrong's barbed song writing chose to centre on. That was five years ago; now Dubya's gone, Obama's moved in and the Berkeley boys have moved on to pastures new - more specifically the mass head-scratching as to just how their homeland recovers from their former leaders lengthy term.
21st Century Breakdown and its 70's style grandiosity centres itself around our two chief protagonists Gloria and Christian, two distinctly different punk lovers running from everyone and everything they've ever believed in. One assertive and the other more idealistic, they share a common disassociation with the world around them, a disassociation that makes rallying cries like first single 'Know Your Enemy' such important, rabblerousing affairs. "We are the desperate and in the decline, raised by the bastards of 1969" barks Billie Joe on the albums title-track, imploring you and I to buckle up and take a seat through modern Springsteen, classic Queen and even a hint of the bands former 90's selves.
American Idiot pointed fingers, made damnations and didn't care who it pissed off along the way, but that's not the agenda here. This is about questions, about seeing whether the damage of an 8-year term can be repaired, whether life can be good in middle America again. Sure there's frustration here, but not once does it boil over into petty name-calling and bolshy "f**k you"'s. Instead the likes of '¡Viva La Gloria!', a slick introductory piece to our lead chanteuse, and the acoustic humdrum of '21 Guns' speak not so much as middle fingers but as downward thumbs that so desperately yearn to lean the other way. They centre on what needs to be done, not on what's come before.
It's a fantastic sounding album to boot, helped no end by former Nirvana twiddler Butch Vig; it's ...Idiot with a vastly bigger barometer, sounding absolutely huge throughout. It aims higher than it's predecessor both in sound and story and continues to make it, reaching the very top and not once coming down for a look around, and such it is that as the final guitar chords chime out and Armstrong beckons forth some answers ("I just want to see the light, I need to know what's worth the fight"), you can't help but hope it's not another five years until we get some.
(previously published at www.rockmidgets.com)
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Writing a review rather suggests you might be back. Good to see you.
melodysparks 24.06.2009 20:03
Good review
tallulahbang 22.06.2009 20:58
The image of Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool (I can't be alone in thinking that's not his real name) fingering Dubya is one that'll be with me for a while. Where HAVE you been? xx
Advantages: Good value for money. Quality music throughout. Like idea of three acts. Disadvantages: Could do with a little more variety. Some tracks maybe a little too long.
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